Gavin had one of the classiest exits in DWTS history, IMO. Always took criticism with a smile, worked hard, respected his partner and had a blast. I was a fan of his music before, but now I call myself a fan of HIM! ~Magnolia

The above quote is from PureDWTS reader Magnolia on Gavin DeGraw in Heidi’s Spolier’s post last night after Gavin DeGraw was eliminated. I thought she summed it up so well for what we are going to miss about this special guy. It’s so true how Gavin always took criticism with a smile and just had a good time on Dancing With The Stars. He was just an all around nice guy! I’m going to miss his “sense of style” too for what Tom Bergeron mentioned and….HIS SIGNATURE HATS!! So, here’s to Gavin and Karina and some media after their elimination with Jimmy Kimmel, Access Hollywood, and On The Red Carpet for starters….

Here’s a piece from E Online as well on why he did the show. He expresses his great love and respect for Karina…

“The fact is this, I signed up for it and it requires a lot of time and a lot of work, a lot of effort and loads and loads of dedication,” Gavin told us. “I did this more to have a great time, pick up a couple of steps, hang out with a beautiful woman instead of living on my bus with a bunch of other smelly musicians.”

All kidding aside, Gavin gave all the credit to Karina Smirnoff for making it as far as he did.

“I love Karina Smirnoff,” he gushed. “I love her. She’s a great dancer. She’s amazing for taking on the challenge of teaching me a couple of the easy versions of the things she knows how to do amazingly well. When Karina shows you a move you think it looks really easy and you’re like, ‘OK, I’ll try those shoes on.’ The shoes are big my friends, the shoes are very big. It’s hard to pull those moves off!”

You can read more here for how they felt on the Dance Duel, the cast, and the fart joke. LOL

I'm a fashion and music fan....and I have always loved dancing too of any kind. Dancing With The Stars seems to have this way of bringing all of those things together. One of my favorite dancing quotes at the moment: "No matter what, nobody can take away the dance you've already had...." ~Gleb Savchenko . For fun music and dance mixes, visit WilUnleashed Soundcloud. To view my photography site, see Lisa Kay Photography.

I love him. Did you hear what he said when JK told him he looked the least upset of any exiting celebrity
–as all the problems in the world go…
so true, what perspective and self awareness. I didn’t know him at all before as my life has been pretty small with the needs of my kids, but I’m sure a fan now.
Glad you posted Magnolia’s quote, I completely agree with it.

I will say that at first, I was very skeptical of Gavin. He didn’t endear himself to me at all during the cast announcement and didn’t seem “invested.” Now, I firmly believe it was just nerves. I think once he settled into dancing, he took to it and enjoyed it. No, he was not the best, but to me, he has the best attitude about it. He always took criticism with a smile or a laugh and worked hard to improve each week. I love the way he talks about Karina and how much he respects her. He’s a great example of what a true gentleman is and I can’t wait to see him again on the finale! 🙂

He came on the show as he left the show… with great heart and class. I’d vote him “Mr Congeniality” for Season 14 DWTS Class 😉 I thoroughly enjoyed his time on the show, that smile, personality and selflessness.

He also did a really great thing by carrying beads for Beads of Courage which is a program that is designed to support and strengthen children and families coping with serious illness – each week he was dancing on the show he had a set of beads, after that week, each bead with a note personally from Gavin was then sent/given to a Beads of Courage Member. 5 weeks is a lot of beads, a lot of love, support and hope he sent out to those kids and family members. That was all happening in the background with him during his time with DWTS. He’s got heart!
He’s that guy, always has been… what you saw on story week is very true to who he is, where he came from and how he lives.

Been a long time DWTS fan, love the pro’s and most of the celebs, and everyone hopes for the best for their pro or celeb. I gotta say, I’m proud of Gavin this season, for who he is, attitude, charisma, honesty and for his attempt to learn to dance! 🙂

Luxurious problem to have being eliminated as far as all the problems in the world go….. Gavin said… ain’t it the truth!

This was such a fun pairing 🙂 I know that gavin really had a grreat time based on everything (interviews the show itself, etc) but if there ever is an all star season I hope the producers choose him out of all of Karina’s partners. Mario Lopez and Arron Carter used to be my second fav partners that she ever had on the show (J.R. being my fav of course) but they just got bumped down to third 🙂

@Magnolia, love your quote and followup. I came in as a Gavin fan who knew nothing about dance. I first thought the whole experience would be a disaster, but I think he did a great job with what he had and am glad he won people over along the way. Especially nice to hear it from someone who knows DWTS so well.